Better Organize Your Backpacking Gear With TripTarp

A multipurpose packing tool for backcountry campers that doubles as an emergency shelter

There’s nothing easy about packing for a backpacking trip. On one hand you want to heed the “every ounce counts” rule and cut out every unessential item. On the other hand, going overboard with the light-and-fast approach might leave you in the backcountry unprepared—or bored, which is why we always pack a paperback. Luck for you, TripTarp is here to help. The brainchild of experienced backpacking guide Craig Rowe and Denver-based design studio The Made Shop, TripTarp is a multipurpose tarp slash gear organization tool.

TripTarp is essentially a tarp printed with a grid designed to help you map our what you plan to pack. With a suggested gear list, backcountry best practices, tips, and reminders, and even emergency notification reminders, the tarp is designed as a visual trip planning guide Plus, with reinforced grommets and a DWR coating, the 8.6 ounce tarp can be used as a last ditch shelter or tent footprint.

Launched today on Kickstarter, a pledge of $55 gets you on the early bird list for a TripTarp. And if the price seems a bit steep for a tarp, consider a recent visit to Home Depot to pick up a generic blue tarp of the same dimensions (but way heavier) cost me close to half that price. Having lugged that thing up and down a mountain as emergency rain shelter I can surely say i’d have rather had a TripTarp in my pack. As they say, you get what you pay for.